Recycle Your Tree!

We’ve seen the discussions about which is a more environmentally sustainable Christmas tree, artificial or real, but we wanted to find out exactly what happens to real trees when the holidays are over. We connected with Region of Waterloo Waste Management to find out what happens to our trees when they’ve reached the end of […]

The Sustainable Waterloo Region network has some pretty incredible people in it, and that includes the amazing folks on our board of directors. While none of the SWR core team was able to attend COP21, we were represented there by one of our board members, Ian Rowlands. For those of you that may not have […]

WATERLOO REGION, ON (December 17, 2015) – There have been extraordinary conversations about climate change on the global level over the last week at the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, COP21, but closer to home, Waterloo Region is ahead of the curve in taking action to combat climate change. Close to 70 organizations in Waterloo Region, […]

I had so much fun creating a gift-giving blog that highlighted amazing and committed local businesses. Being able to go to all of these places and talk to business owners was eye-opening, and I know it will help me make more conscious decisions when I’m shopping. I hope it was able to spark something in […]

I spent a recent -afternoon on University of Waterloo’s campus meeting with Mat Thijssen, UW’s Sustainability Coordinator. He’s a tall, soft-spoken, and articulate man who respects data as much as he does the environment. He strikes me as exactly the type of sustainability professional you’d expect to see at UW. On the heels of the […]

About On Tuesday, December 8th I attended a Waterloo Region Environment Network event and ran into Jane Snyder, who I recognized from a previous job. She asked about the work that I was doing, and when I told her about this blog series she told me about work she had done creating gift ideas for […]

About If you’d like to approach holiday shopping with the intention of giving, charities and non-profits are a great way to do achieve this. At SWR, we had a gift exchange at our holiday party where we were told only to bring items that were either thrifted or that we already owned. I chose to […]

The aroma of freshly roasted coffee beans fills the air in the old mill building in St Jacobs. Eco-Coffee is a local roaster that provides high quality and ethically sourced coffee. They show their commitment to sustainability through various efforts such as supporting businesses that are certified through the Rainforest Alliance, Certified Fair Trade, and […]

About After her dad and dog were both diagnosed with cancer in 1995, Jessica had an epiphany about something that we all know but don’t always pay attention to; there are chemicals in a lot of products we use that contain carcinogens. It was at this time that she started being more conscious of what […]

About When looking for holiday gifts, it’s a good sign to find a store named Gifted. Gifted is owned by a lovely woman named Sylvia, who found her passion for “gifty” items through a full time job where part of her job was to source these items. At some point her job changed and this […]